Daily Flash Fiction: Purple Envelope

I opened the mailbox to see a singular purple envelope. No return address, no stamp. Just my name handwritten on a small envelope. Slowly I opened it to find a single page letter with the words “Congratulations!” typed in bold. Underneath in smaller text read “Here is your cheat code for life. Use this code online in place of your regular passwords to find hidden surprises.”

“This must be a joke,” I laughed, knowing I’d try it out anyway. The worst that could happen was a incorrect password.

I went to the most obvious place most would go: my bank website. Carefully, I entered the mix of letters and numbers. Much to my surprise, it worked and I was into my account. Less than a minute later, a pop up appeared alerting me that $1,000 had been deposited into my account as a “thank you” from the bank.

“Huh!” I thought, eager to try more.

One by one I entered the password on the energy company, internet provider, and credit card. In return I got a year’s worth of service, free upgrades, and a clean slate of credit.

“This is amazing!” I cried, “What else could I try?”

After some pondering, I decided to try a dating site. I had signed up to one the previous month, but hadn’t had much luck yet. Much to my dismay, the pop up was very different from the previous, with no words of congratulations and no exciting messages. Instead, it said only this:

“Did you really think it was going to be that easy? You can’t cheat with relationships.”

A little sadden, but mostly bemused, I ended my internet game.

“Oh well, at least I’ve got the money now to go out and look for a date instead.”

Word Count: 299